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Scot McKnight is a recognized authority on the New Testament, early Christianity, and the historical Jesus. McKnight, author of more than fifty books, is the Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary in Lombard, IL.

Jeremy

Not too surprising. It seems to me that ability to influence, not empathy, is a required trait for the top 10, but the reverse is true for the bottom.

Doc Mike

Interesting, especially since many psychologists/counselors score high on the psychopathic deviate scale on the MMPI-II.

We score high, however, because we tend to swim upstream rather than going with the flow, to color everywhere but within the lines, and can’t imagine thought being possible inside the box!

http://byzantium.wordpress.com Kullervo

Empathy is absolutely critical in my legal practice.

Jeremy

Kullervo, that was a broad brush statement. I know a few very empathetic lawyers (and we have several here), but they all agreed that their profession was full of manipulative sharks and they had to constantly guard against adopting some of the worst character traits of their colleagues. It probably has more to do with what you specialize in than anything else.

Barb

although its not 100% I see more extroverts in the bottom list–just sayin

alan hitt

Well, at least now when a journalist or some media personality accuses a clergy person of being nuts, the clergy person can say, “Not as nuts as you.”

http://byzantium.wordpress.com Kullervo

It probably has more to do with what you specialize in than anything else.

Certainly! I do wills, trusts and estates.

Anita Pagitt

Ha. I made the least likely list but since I’m considering becoming clergy, what does that say?

http://www.bloodstainedink.wordpress.com Ryan

The most disturbing thing about this list is the increasing trend of senior pastors of non-denominational, evangelical churches that envision themselves as CEOs.

http://joelmayward.blogspot.com Joel Mayward

So there is a surgeon at #5 on the top list…and a doctor at #9 on the other list.

Diane S.

So where does mother of teenagers fit in to this?!

Stephen Weaver

@Ryan, yeah, huh? That’s a trend that has been documented for 200+ years (see, Thomas Howard’s, “God and the Atlantic”). Wife says I’m hi risk: bi-vocational pastor trained as an attorney, serving as an EVP over part of corporate sales …

http://www.bloodstainedink.wordpress.com Ryan

@Stephen . . . I’ll pray for you.

Mike M

To “be psychopathic” or rather sociopathic, a person has to be able to separate his or her actions from those consequences that harm other people. I would probably put Human Resource directors at the top of the list. CEO’s come as no surprise: making money at any cost to employee well-being is taught in business school. Surgeons have to hurt first in order to get the job done which is what differentiates them from non-surgical physicians. But then there are the outliers like the physicians who directed the tortures at Guantanamo Bay.

http://www.naturalspirituality.wordpress.com Howard Pepper

I’d imagine the percentage differences are relatively small at each step though the difference between the top few and bottom few may be substantial. While I’d give the larger influence to “nature” (inborn traits or tendencies) that “nurture”, I do imagine that certain professions tend to reinforce or exacerbate a psychopathic style. Unfortunately, that includes running a company in too many cases.

Fortunately, greater opportunity has recently been developing for companies to do well by doing good (accompanied by “socially responsible investing”); for non-profits to set up Benefit Corporations, for start-ups to get funding easier with “crowd funding”, etc. There IS change in the air in the business world which makes place for more CEO’s who are NOT psychopathic (and there are a lot already, of course).

Scott Gay

What’s up Chad?

StephL

Psychopaths, 1-6 anyway, are paid more than non-psychopaths, top 8 of that list at least.

http://byzantium.wordpress.com Kullervo

The fact that a CEO is more likely to be a psychopath than a member of any other profession does not actually mean that a CEO is likely to be a psychopath.

I haven’t seen the study’s numbers, but a fact pattern where 0.01% of CEOs were psychopaths, 0.001% of Care Aides were psychopaths, and everyone else fell in between could give you the same results.

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The real Mary was an unwed, pregnant teenage girl in first century Palestine. She was a woman of courage, humility, spirit, and resolve, and her response to the angel Gabriel shifted the tectonic plates of history.

Join popular Biblical scholar Scot McKnight as he explores the contours of Maryâ€™s life, from the moment she learned of God's plan for the Messiah, to the culmination of Christ's ministry on earth. McKnight dismantles the myths and also challenges our prejudices. He introduces us to a woman who is a model for faith, and who points us to her son.

What is the 'Christian life' all about? Studying the Bible, attending church, cultivating a prayer life, witnessing to others---those are all good. But is that really what Jesus has in mind? The answer, says Scot McKnight in One.Life, lies in Jesus' words, 'Follow me.'

What does it look like to follow Jesus, and how will doing so change the way we live our life---our love.life, our justice.life, our peace.life, our community.life, our sex.life---everything about our life.

This book examines conversion stories as told by people who have actually undergone a conversion experience, including experiences of apostasy. The stories reveal that there is not just one "conversion story." Scot McKnight and Hauna Ondrey show that "conversion theory" helps explain why some people walk away from one religion, often to another, very different religion. The book confirms the usefulness--particularly for pastors, rabbis, and priests, and university and college teachers--of applying conversion theory to specific groups.

Parakeets make delightful pets. We cage them or clip their wings to keep them where we want them. Scot McKnight contends that many, conservatives and liberals alike, attempt the same thing with the Bible. We all try to tame it.

McKnight's The Blue Parakeet has emerged at the perfect time to cool the flames of a world on fire with contention and controversy. It calls Christians to a way to read the Bible that leads beyond old debates and denominational battles. It calls Christians to stop taming the Bible and to let it speak anew for a new generation.

The gravity point of a life before God is that his followers are to love God and to love others with everything they've got. Scot McKnight now works out the "Jesus Creed" for high school and college students, seeking to show how it makes sense, giving shape to the moral lives of young adults. The Jesus Creed for Students is practical, filled with stories, and backed up and checked by youth pastors Chris Folmsbee and Syler Thomas.

"When an expert in the law asked Jesus for the greatest commandment, Jesus responded with the Shema, the ancient Jewish creed that commands Israel to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength. But the next part of Jesus' answer would change the course of history.

Jesus amended the Shema, giving his followers a new creed for life: to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, but also to love others as themselves. Discover how the Jesus Creed of love for God and others can transform your life.

"Scot McKnight stirs the treasures of our Lord's life in an engaging fashion. He did so with The Jesus Creed, and does so again with 40 Days Living the Jesus Creed. Make sure this new guide for living is on your shelf." --Max Lucado

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And...love your neighbor as yourself."

Scot McKnight has come to call this vital teaching of our Lord the Jesus Creed. He recites it throughout the day every day and challenges you to do the same. You may find that, if you do, you will learn to love God more creatively and passionately, and find new ways to love those around you.

What was spiritual formation like during the time of Jesus? As Scot McKnight points out, the early Christians didn't sing in the choir or go to weekly Bible studies, and yet they matured inwardly in relationship with God as well as outwardly in their relationships with each other. How did this happen?

In The Jesus Creed DVD, explore with Scot how the great Shema of the Old Testament was transformed by our Lord into the focal point for spiritual maturity. According to the Jesus Creed (found in Mark 12:29-31), loving God and loving others are the greatest commandments.

Is the practice of faith centered solely on the spirit? Is the body an enemy, or can it actually play a role in our pursuit of God? In this installation of the Ancient Practices Series, Dr. Scot McKnight reconnects the spiritual and the physical through the discipline of fasting.

The act of fasting, he says, should not be focused on results or used as a manipulative tool. It is a practice to be used in response to sacred moments, just as it has in the lives of God's people throughout history. McKnight gives us scriptural accounts of fasting, along with practical wisdom on benefits and pitfalls, when we should fast, and what happens to our bodies as a result.

McKnight discusses the value of the church's atonement metaphors, asserting that the theory of atonement fundamentally shapes the life of the Christian and of the church. This book, the first volume in the Living Theology series, contends that while Christ calls humanity into community that reflects God's love, that community then has the responsibility to offer God's love to others through such missional practices of justice and fellowship.

Scot McKnight, best-selling author of The Jesus Creed, invites readers to get closer to the heart of Jesus' message by discovering the ancient rhythms of daily prayer at the heart of the early church. "This is the old path of praying as Jesus prayed," McKnight explains, "and in that path, we learn to pray along with the entire Church and not just by ourselves as individuals."

Praying with the Church is written for all Christians who desire to know more about the ancient devotional traditions of the Christian faith, and to become involved in their renaissance today.

In the candid and lucid style that has made McKnight's The Jesus Creed so appealing to thousands of pastors, lay leaders, and everyday people who are searching for a more authentic faith, he encourages all Christians to recognize the simple, yet potentially transforming truth of the gospel message: God seeks to restore us to wholeness not only to make us better individuals, but to form a community of Jesus, a society in which humans strive to be in union with God and in communion with others.